February 19, 2008...10:12 am
Living Web Social Innovation
Yesterday, I listened to most of Nick Yeo’s conversation over at the social innovation center’s conversations network. He is the communications director for Taking ITGlobal, a youth- and development-oriented social networking pllatform.
One thing that stood out (and that I think Vishant might like) is that he discussed how they discovered that their users in places like Africa were often huddled five or six aroudn a computer using the site, and they thought of ways to cross leverage that liittle face2face net with the networking of their platform.
Their official elevator pitch:
TakingITGlobal.org is an online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities. It’s the world’s most popular online community for young people interested in making a difference, with hundreds of thousands of unique visitors each month.
The other link is to google.org. Read this in Fast Company’s Fast list for 2008. They seem to combine corporate philanthropy, R&D, and wiki-type decision making (letting lots of people propose and rank ideas for grants and investing). Also interesting to see that Hal Varian, whose book Network Rules was one of the better strategy books i read at IESE, is their chief economist.
4 Comments
February 19, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Hi Jordi!
Thanks for the mention - one of the most fascinating things about TIG is how proactive our membership is when it comes to spreading the word. We’ve managed to make a positive impact on their lives, and they will promote our tools and resources for us. It really goes to show how powerful word of mouth truly is!
Cheers,
Nick Yeo
Development & Communications Manager
http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/DeepEndZen
February 23, 2008 at 4:57 pm
A friend of mine who is more of an info head wondered why you aren’t using a mobile platform more since he is constantly harping on how cell/mobile devices are the choice of developing world youth.
April 7, 2008 at 9:16 am
Good question (sorry for the late response!)…and the short answer is, we have been thinking about it for some time.
One of our challenges is whether or not we just replicate the site so users can access it via their cellphones, or if we create a new function/tool that capitalizes on the vast proliferation of that particular technology.
I’d love to chat with your friend about his ideas…
April 7, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Does the nature of the mobile tool (replica or stand-alone) affect how users use?
I’ll ask friend…
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